Spiders nipped by Piranhas, vow to improve their fishing skills!

Jan. 5, 2011

The month of December was one for the history books for the Spiders. Because of rink conditions and the weather, the team participated in a historically low number of games spanning 37 days. Since November 28, 2010, the Spiders only managed to find the ice one time. The dry-land training appeared to have been successful in every aspect except shooting skills.

Spiders were in their home Whites and traveled to Hopkins Pavilion for the first time. The previous meeting between the Fighting Piranhas ended in a 1-0 victory for the fan favorites. The shut-out tonight was cancelled for the Spider netminder with 2:20 to go in the first period when Burshem notched his first goal of the season when a puck thrown to the front of the net that found its way in. Despite outshooting the fish, the home team was down 1-0 at the end of the first.

With the second period only being highlighted by a successful penalty kill, the Spiders entered the third with the fresher legs and more bodies on the bench then their opponent. Hilden and Bedessem teamed up using youth and hustle to notch the tying goal with 10:50 remaining in the game. This was Hilden’s team leading seventh goal and Bedessem’s sixth assist of the season and they are the only Spiders present on the division leaders list. With the help of some phantom referee calls emitting from previously inattentive officials, the Spiders were placed into a hole that they were constantly attempting to dig out of. Despite the three mysterious calls, the team still managed to outshoot the Piranhas 12-6 in the final frame.

During the second penalty-kill of the period, Dow appeared to have gotten caught up in his own equipment and couldn’t close the five-hole quickly enough and the Piranhas notched what proved to be the game-winning goal. The team has fallen out of first place by one point but they still have a game in hand.

The team looked fresh enough to have taken another hard-fought game; however, the bounces just never seemed to favor the home team. In the history books, this game will be remembered for the missed opportunities on the offensive end rather than dominance that was displayed throughout the game. The Spiders were able to record 34 shots on goal but seemed to have found the strengths of the goaltender or missed on opportunities that were available. The Pavilion ice was hard but turned brittle and slow in the third period and Coach Schliesman was reported to already be game-planning for their return trip in four games versus the Sled Dogs.

The Spiders plan to improve their fishing skills by defeating the Muskies in their next contest. The team is already reporting scratches of Cagle, Schliesman and Maietta due to undisclosed reasons. Dow has been named Captain for the next game with Tim Stalpes and Butalla carrying the Assistant title. This game will be the first time in Spider history where all of the team captains were a scratch.